Visiting Grammie and Poppop

Last week when Ryan was out of town (again!) Ollie and I went down to Florida to visit my grandparents. My mom came down from New York, too. It was so nice to see Grammie and Poppop again. We haven't seen them since last Easter, more than a year ago! Grammie has been having trouble with her heart again and is weighing the options of undergoing a risky second open-heart surgery. We are praying for her and her doctors that they will be guided to make the right decision.

Whe I returned from Florida I was so excited to download my pictures from the trip, only to discover to my dismay that I hadn't taken one picture of Grammie and Poppop. How could that be?!?!! We took lots of video but not one picture. I can't believe it. I have a serious problem with my camera being drawn almost exclusively to Oliver these days. Speaking of pictures, Ryan has just purchased a very nice digital SLR camera, so now we'll be able to take even better pictures of our favorite subject.

But, if they say a picture's worth a thousand words, here are some notable memories of our trip to visit Grammie and Poppop:

• the scent of gardenias from the garden


• eating Irish oatmeal for breakfast


• sitting next to Grammie and looking through old picture albums (Grammie was one cute baby!!)


• pouring over Gourmet and Cooking Light with Grammie, and then going out to dinner anyway


• picking cherry tomatoes with Poppop


• washing the garbage (don't ask)


• Grammie remarking about how lucky she is that her husband cuts her fresh flowers from his garden every day


• Poppop's roses in vases and bowls throughout the house


• Grammie reading paperbacks in her white chair while doing her nebulizer


• Ollie climbing up into Grammie's white chair when no one was looking


• Grammie's amazing gourmet meals (she's all about fresh, local, seasonal produce)


• trying to tempt Ollie with Grammie's cooking (unfortunately, he still really only wants to eat yogurt, applesauce, Cheerios and crackers) actually, he did finally eat some custard Grammie made for him


• getting manicures and pedicures with Mom and Grammie


• going to the beach with Mommy, and being nervous that even though the red flag was up she would want to go swimming


• swimming in the pool with Grammie and Mommy (Oliver being scared of Mommy in her gold bathing cap)


• looking at pictures of Aunt Nancy's girls (Connie and Katie are so big! Connie is about to go off to college...I remember attending Aunt Nancy's college graduation...I must be old!)


• chatting with Nancy about their upcoming vacation to Ireland


• the sound of their front door opening